Chimney!

Yes Sir, we have a chimney!

Here is the stupid roof bracket! I mean, the AMAZING roof bracket that wasn’t at all worrisome or a pain:

Here is our beautiful chimney and our wonderful friend and neighbour in the snazzy hat who came between fishing boat arrivals to help us raise our chimney. Old fashioned barn raisings came to mind. Kat & I did not raise this chimney – our amazing friends, family and community made it happen.

Superman Dan, with his safety gear ready to scrabble around on the roof top and screw the chimney to the bracket:

She’s up! Of course, we had to take her back down again because we forgot to put the cap on the top of the chimney. By the second chimney raising, we were pretty good at it.

Ha ha ha haa!

Many lewd jokes were tossed around during this chimney raisin’. Yes, we can all rise to an immature occasion.

Still, it’s up. Our chimney is up. Hallelujah!

In other news, we had thirty bald eagles outside our house yesterday. And one golden eagle. I didn’t actually see the golden eagle, Dan saw it – but it was apparently significantly larger than any of the bald eagles, and was chased off by half a dozen bald eagles when it got too close to the best fish plant.

And guess who else is back? The bears. I found bear poop in the lot next door this evening. Apparently, the wolves have wreaked havoc upon the bears this winter, digging them out of their dens as they hibernated and slaughtering them – 4 in 10 bears in our mountains were taken by wolves this winter.

We can hear the wolves howling across the harbour every night now, often at midnight. They set the sea lions off. It’s funny, I’m so used to the sea lions I can sleep through their roaring even when it shakes the house – but the far-off ,eerie, high-pitched cry of the wolf pack will jerk me from the soundest slumber. Their calls rise and carry, lilting, harmonizing, falling away. I understand now why wolves have historically been so feared. Their howls seem to say “We’re coming!”